To be struggling to take this years GCSE grades seriously

[awaywiththecircus]

It’s no the dcs fault but I do think the GCSE results this year will be taken with a pinch of salt. I do feel sorry the the students who would have actually got a bunch of 8 and 9s if they’d sat the actual tests as it seems more than ever are getting those grades this year and it does make you wonder. We’re they not meant to be for the very top percentage of students? I’ve spoken to a parent who is pleased the marks were centre assessed as he thinks his ds probably wouldn’t have passed his maths and English if he’d actually sat them,

I don’t think he’d have a funded place to do just one A level, and that’s why they don’t tend to offer resit years.

Yes, I think his only option is to take the exam for the subject he got a D in this autumn. It's not ideal given the 6 month study gap, but it is unfortunately the only way he can improve the grade. Does this affect his future plans?

As if this cohort of kids haven't been through enough without more attacks on their educational achievements. Remember none of this is their fault. They they have missed out on so much learning, exam experience, end of school celebrations, proms and they are likely to have a bumpy education for the next year at least.

Headlines about grade inflation are misleading as I know many students, my DC included, that have received lower grades in some subjects than they have ever had in mocks or predicted. Some schools stuck rigidly to the guidelines fearing the wrath of ofqual, while others did not but that is not the fault of the students so they should not be diminished by this.

This year's results should have a special mark next to them, it's fairer to the kids.

So, again, I think this year's grades should have a mark next to them (CV) showing they were awarded in 2020 and are a load of shite. They should serve to get them into sixth form or whatever they're doing 16-18 but that's

These commrnts make me so bloody angry. Dd got nines in her science mocks beating anyone else in the school by about 10 marks per paper. She got the highest level 6 mark in her maths SATS snd was predicted nines even as far back as year 8 in tests. So unsurprisingly she got nines in maths and science. She got a seven in her first statistics mock when they had only covered half of the course. She has been told she has the ability to apply for Oxbridge. It is not the kids fault or the teachers fault for this mess. Teacher CAGS alone would not have significantly affected perception. It was the ridiculous and random algorithm upgrades whuch will screw over students especially those who will have passed subjects they wouldn't have managed to pass. The Govt/OFQUAL should got off their lazy asses and properly moderated the CAGS or the exams should have happened. A bit of online tuition to cover any gaps in syllabus and exams in various parts of the school. But it didn't happen so the kids shouldn't suffer.

@Northernsoulgirl45

This year's results should have a special mark next to them, it's fairer to the kids.

So, again, I think this year's grades should have a mark next to them (CV) showing they were awarded in 2020 and are a load of shite. They should serve to get them into sixth form or whatever they're doing 16-18 but that's

These commrnts make me so bloody angry. Dd got nines in her science mocks beating anyone else in the school by about 10 marks per paper. She got the highest level 6 mark in her maths SATS snd was predicted nines even as far back as year 8 in tests. So unsurprisingly she got nines in maths and science. She got a seven in her first statistics mock when they had only covered half of the course. She has been told she has the ability to apply for Oxbridge. It is not the kids fault or the teachers fault for this mess. Teacher CAGS alone would not have significantly affected perception. It was the ridiculous and random algorithm upgrades whuch will screw over students especially those who will have passed subjects they wouldn't have managed to pass. The Govt/OFQUAL should got off their lazy asses and properly moderated the CAGS or the exams should have happened. A bit of online tuition to cover any gaps in syllabus and exams in various parts of the school. But it didn't happen so the kids shouldn't suffer.

I honestly think these sorts of remarks are just from people who enjoy hurting others - there's no logical basis for them whatsoever.

Yes, overall there are more higher grades around. But for the vast majority it will just mean stuff like they got four nines instead of three - or five sixes instead of four. All theses "a three turned into eight" make for good press stories but they're very rare cases in the whole scheme of things.

DD has one grade which she would have been unlikely to have achieved in the exam but other than that they are all within her predicted range. Yes, they're probably slighlty higher overall because in an exam she would likely have had at least one bad day and dropped a grade somewhere. But what they say about her is "reasonably bright kid but not superstar". And that's exactly what she is. Her grades don't lie about her at all.

What have they been through? They have got to lie in bed for 3 months, playing on their phones/computers and avoiding any studying/exams. Its been absolute heaven for them
Dd was still working. Her school continued to set work. She did a whole exam paper off her own back as they didn't do the mock for that paper as they hadn't covered it. Than there was A Level transition work. All this along with no extra curricula. No awards for her sport, No prom, no rite of passage along with not leaving the house as her df was shielding and her dm is high risk. Living the dream eh. Some have also lost loved ones.
She is so angry that she couldn't sit her exams as she wanted to prove herself. Thank God she took a few early entry exams do she has passes already even uf they weren't her best subjects but even than she got a 7 and a 9.

"Some schools stuck rigidly to the guidelines fearing the wrath of ofqual, while others did not but that is not the fault of the students so they should not be diminished by this".

Some of the partisan self interested naysayers (who are quite clearly tunnel visioned and motivated by concerns over their Y10's and Y12's and thus striking out at this years cohorts) seem to forget that a good number of the current Y11's and Y13's have "lost out" too because they have conservative grades from a sensible school / college which will be compared directly with peers from more 'optimistic' schools / colleges.

What would the naysayers have proposed to the solution to this years exam debacle if not CAG's. I love to hear from them on this

@Irelate my dd took 4 exams in year 10 too you know. Many do and she coped admirably thank you. No anguish at all.
There's also the fact that they didn't do the work - of course it's not their fault, but they didn't. They didn't actually earn the GCSEs. I know there will be howls of anguish from lots of you, but unless you've seen a child actually go through the hell of GCSE exams, you won't realise how easy this lot got off.
She did years of fucking work. Hell she got a 7 last year in a subject where for half the course they had supply teachers who had no clue. She taught herself half that course.

Sorry no hell at all.

I can it now.

Can you complete this application with GCSEs etc taken, year and grade.

Completed with 2020.

Employer. You should have a CV next to that so we know it's Covid grades.

Employee - we'll surely you worked it out as the 2020 told you! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Given that league tables won't be produced this year it will be interesting to see if the press pick up on grades achieved in schools compared to previous years. I think there would be some merit in looking at and comparing schools achievement against previous years, especially CAGs.

Schools approach mocks etc differently, I remember my DD being amazed at hearing that friends had been awarded '9's in their mocks - her school never awards a 9 in a mock, in fact you could argue that last years schools didn't really know what a 9 looked like.

Grades are not that much higher overall.
We have to remember that the news worthy ones are the anomalies, not the norm. Most kids haven't been given hugely inflated grades.

Ali's we should note that normal teacher predictions are NOT what the children got. They received CAGs which were lower than a normal predictions in many cases.

Most children got their normal GCSEs grades and the ones they deserved.

What we haven't had so much this year is the ones who massively mess up on the day - the ones who don't really achieve the grade they were capable of due to a one off bad exam.

In England the proportion of entries awarded:
6.3%
Grade 9 (up from 4.5 per cent in 2019)
25.9%
Grade 7 or above – equivalent to A or above (up from 20.6 per cent)
76%
Grade 4 or above – equivalent to C or above (up from 67.1 per cent)

These percentage changes aren't massive ones really. The biggest rise is the overall pass rate for grade 4 and above - that was 9%

As I said before. This years grades mainly just don't include the poor kids who mess up the exam on the day.

I found maths O level so easy compared to the legacy GCSE I took recently .The new GCSE is even harder.

I think we all just need to agree that O'levels were the only proper exams ever taken in this country and that the rest of us have progressed purely down to ridiculous gcses and grade inflation over the past 25 years.

The nostalgia about O-Levels is a real nonsense yep

I think that this is one of those situations where the proof will be in the pudding. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns out that the teacher based predictions were more reflective of who is capable of A levels than the exam system which really only assess pupils ability over a few hours. There may have been a few schools were teachers were a bit too generous but it is probably not as bad as some of the cheating that went on when course work was included in GCSEs. I wonder how many of the naysayers got GCSEs when coursework was included? Should we not take their grades seriously because a few pupils got their siblings/parents to do much of the coursework?

I think it’s been hard enough on these poor kids without people talking about taking their grades “with a pinch of salt”.

YABU

(No axe to grind here as my kids are younger)

Speaking from experience, it's a shame for the students who aren't 'high flyers' and were hovering around the level 2/3/4...and ending up getting 3's and so failing their GCSE's. Cruel and heartbreaking.

It's amazing what the press can do with percentages - and how many people on here don't understand them.

Try this:

www.skillsyouneed.com/num/percent-change.html

Let's imagine a school with 100 students taking English. In 2019, fourteen students got the top grade. This year, an extra 2 students were awarded the mark, ( and remember nobody just had a panicked "bad day"). So going from 14 to just 16 gives them a headline of;

Students awarded the top grade increases by 14.29%!!

Quick, call the DM

@mrpumblechook agreed.

At the end of the day: if a small minority of students have been graded slightly above their ability to cope with chosen A levels or further education courses this will very quickly be picked up. Universities, colleges and sixth form tutors are experienced teachers and they’ll soon identify students who are struggling. Those students will either improve with support or they’ll drop out / change courses. This is something that always happens and perhaps it’ll happen slightly more this year but that’s life.

I do think there are some people who just get a massive kick out of slating gcse and a level students each year - the “oh it’s all a load of rubbish, they dish out good grades like sweeties these days!” brigade - but this year they are enjoying getting even more of a kick. Which says a lot more about those people than it does about the students.

"I do think there are some people who just get a massive kick out of slating gcse and a level students each year - the “oh it’s all a load of rubbish, they dish out good grades like sweeties these days!” brigade"

Probably people who got mediocre grades when they were at school /college

As a sixth form teacher, I glance at GCSE grades before a class begin (for A level more than for BTEC) and then immediately forget them. I’ll set them written work in the first week and from that I tend to have a very good idea of how they will come out at the end of two years. Of course there are always surprises - and more often pleasant ones - and we always encourage students to do better, but once they’re on the course you teach the students in front of you. Whatever happened before that is really nothing to do with me and certainly has no bearing on how I teach or treat them.

@Aragog

In England the proportion of entries awarded: 6.3% Grade 9 (up from 4.5 per cent in 2019) 25.9% Grade 7 or above – equivalent to A or above (up from 20.6 per cent) 76% Grade 4 or above – equivalent to C or above (up from 67.1 per cent)

These percentage changes aren't massive ones really. The biggest rise is the overall pass rate for grade 4 and above - that was 9%

As I said before. This years grades mainly just don't include the poor kids who mess up the exam on the day.

Exactly. They are not ridiculously higher, and are arguably fairer because sometimes people just have a bad day in an exam.

The Times mysteriously came up with a figure in an article today that "almost a third of grades" were at 7-9 this year. The actual figure in England, as has already been said, is 25.9%. How on earth did a quarter become "almost a third"?

god you see some junk written about it don't you

@HPFA

The Times mysteriously came up with a figure in an article today that "almost a third of grades" were at 7-9 this year. The actual figure in England, as has already been said, is 25.9%. How on earth did a quarter become "almost a third"?

7-9 are three whole grades as well, so it's not entirely unreasonable.